Page 31 of Sweetheart: Part One

As I crossed toward the huge bed, I noticed the blackcurrant wine in the room.

Drake.

How long had he spent in here today?

Beneath the wine, was the aroma of cherry blossom. Faint. Almost undetectable like most beta scents were. It was pleasant, I supposed, and nothing special.

Neither was she.

I just needed her gone—because my pack wanted to defend her, I told myself. That just made it my mission to fuck it up. My mind was logical to a point, and I knew instantly that the thought didn’t fit.

I hated thoughts that didn’t fit.

For a moment, I was distracted as I caught sight of her.

The few photos I’d been looking at didn’t do her justice. Not like she was in the low light, with one leg free of the blanket, her skin smooth and pale.

Deliberate, my mind whispered.Trying too hard to seduce you.

Fuck.

That was the second thought that didn’t fit—as if she was planning on seeing me in here tonight. I returned to the issue that had itched at me before.

The timeline wasn’t right—that was why the other thought hadn’t fit. I hadn’t known they would defend her in those first few moments I’d wanted her gone. So my reaction to her had nothing to do with my pack.

And I hadn’tjustwanted her gone.

I wanted her afraid.

I needed her to know that she had no power over me—

Thoughts cut off at a flicker of movement at her side, and then a pair of violet eyes were peering at me from the floor beside her bed.

Ah.

Fuck.

We stared at each other for a long moment, me and Drake, and then he was on his feet, crossing toward me in a flash, his panic like a spear down the bond.

Double fuck.

He was going to flip.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He seized my shirt as he reached me, voice a low hiss. His eyes were burning with rage, but the fear was worse. I could feel it from him right now. Because of me, anddammit, that was enough to halt me. I had a job when it came to Drake, andgivinghim fear wasn’t it.

I took a step back, scowl on my face, but he wasn’t done. He shoved me, trying to drag me out of the room—presumably before Vex woke.

“What were you doing?” he snarled, the moment the door shut, and he all but slammed me into the wall.

I’d be fucking proud of him, except for the chocolate-eyed reasonbehindthis abrupt discovery of a spine.

I clenched my jaw, trying to balance the two needs warring with each other. Manage the relationship I had with Drake, and the boiling hatred I had of the fucking Sweetheart that was sending my mind in spirals.

“Whatwere you going to do?” he demanded.

Footsteps sounded, and I blew out a breath of frustration as Love and Rook appeared.

Great.

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